What's the worst car you've ever driven?

ambro25

magpie wrote:

Over to you Mr Clarkson

Was that 4 me, or...
(Not sure about the point you're making)

magpie

Was that 4 me, or...

Nope, Brian D3 with the Rover/Ignatz Bolemio/Peugeot/Astra comparisons.

PauloMN

You sure it's a Twingo you drove/were in, and not a Fiat Panda?

Yup, I'm sure alright.... the fact it had a Twingo badge and was a piece of **** would lead me to that conclusion.

Power steering and econometer? Must have been the deluxe version you had. The one I had was hired in Holland about 9 or 10 years ago, and if it had been anymore basic it wouldn't have had wheels...

ambro25

PauloMN wrote:

Power steering and econometer? Must have been the deluxe version you had. The one I had was hired in Holland about 9 or 10 years ago, and if it had been anymore basic it wouldn't have had wheels...

Whatever :rolleyes:

BTW, re. the econometer, you obviously didn't bother RTFM after you got in it (econometer is standard on all twingos since Mk1, S/N 000,0001 - it's part of the computer / digital display in the middle of the dash (there's no needles in it whatsoever!))

BrianD3

magpie wrote:

Nope, Brian D3 with the Rover/Ignatz Bolemio/Peugeot/Astra comparisons.

Well I was just disagreeing with your "well engineered" comments. I have driven the Golf Mk3/Vento 1.4 and have been a passenger in one on numerous occasions. I don't need Jeremy Clarkson to tell me that the Golf Mk3 1.4 is slow and handles badly. In my opinion the thing drives like a tractor compared to the Peugeot 205, 504 and Renault Scenic that you mentioned. So we're just going to have to agree to disagree

BrianD3

ibanez

ambro25 wrote:

Don't think so - bear in mind my speed estimate is rough, as the Golf hit with wheels locked on wet cobblestones, and I did get a slightly stiff neck for a couple fo days from the impact (I still remember seeing the 'scrunched up' face of the woman in my mirror as she was going to hit a nanosecond thereafter).
You sure it's a Twingo you drove/were in, and not a Fiat Panda? As the Twingo panels are pretty heavy (doors are very elongated, conceptually it's a Mini-MPV of sorts, bit of a pain in confined car parks) IMO.
As I said, I like the Twingo as a city car (especially as they're now available with power steer - huge difference in driveability around town), it's small and easy to park like a Smart, but big like a Scenic inside, very economic (with computer econometer - not seen these before or since on cars of that size, have you?) and, well... what more can I say? I just like it, and in the context this particular thread, it's worth me defending it some.



Second that. Had a 1.2 in Majroca, went round the entire Island (including twisty North coast) in a day and very happy with it (and perfromance on the small bit of m'way in the middle of the island - 165 kph speed ).

'Twitch' handling referred to earlier is simply known as a responsive car. Of course, if all you're used to is a 4x4/SUV, a Vectra or a big Ford, you may experience a certain degree of disorientation when first confronted with a car that actually goes where you point it



Did Toyota take VW over? Does my Impreza count as a jap family car?

No Toyota have not taken over VW. Nowhere did i say that VW were a japanese brand i just think that the golf and the 323 are poor handling cars. By the way the imprezza is an exceptional car i had one myself it may have four doors but its a bona fide supercar.

unkel

magpie wrote:

Ignatz Bolemio

LOL, that does sound awful, like it's going to explode any second

ambro25

ibanez wrote:

No Toyota have not taken over VW. Nowhere did i say that VW were a japanese brand

Ease up, m8 - I was only pulling your leg

ibanez wrote:

By the way the imprezza is an exceptional car i had one myself it may have four doors but its a bona fide supercar.

But it's a jap family car.

lilulila

Originally Posted by kbannon
One of them Fiat Seciento thingys - just pure evil crap!

I recently sold a Fiat Cinquentio SX recently. I dont believe they are crap. Ill be honest with you I origionally bought the car cause of the cheap insurance/tax and petrol. But its a brill nippy car. We did for a while deliver pizzas in the car and it was the best car to get around the city. We could fit through gaps other cars would have to hold off for. I would recommend this car for a learner driver. The only reason Ive changed the car is that now I had her for a year and a half I wanted more power for the long journeys. And also I would rather a more stirdy car for the long journeys just incase of inpact. But for a city car I loved her. The day I sold her and bought my new punto I bawled all the way back home cause I was so upset she went. Of course I had a name for her lol Bessie. Does anyone else call their car a name or am I just totally going insane

Long Live Bessie

ambro25

Awwww...

BEASTIE

LOLITA

Of course, being French, all my cars are female

Dan_B

I never thought you could actually upgrade to a punto

lilulila

LOL I like the look of beastie. I bet it really is a beast (in a good way) I called my new one Linvoy the invincible lol. yeah theres a big difference between 899cc and a 1.2 lol

ambro25

lilulila wrote:

LOL I like the look of beastie. I bet it really is a beast (in a good way)

Kinda weird, actually. I was Googlin' to find a equivalent pix to post - which I did: same motor, same color, same model (2.0 Sport AWD), even same reg year (P).

But the exhaust's wrong (AFAIK, the original is a twin pipe) - but this one in the pix looks just like mine (s/s, protrudes a bit)!

And I know mine's been re-reg'd, as it had a private plate on before, so...imagine that: you're Googlin' to find an equivalent pix of your car, only you find (possibly) an picture of your actual car in its past life!

Still, better to find it like that than on wreckedexotics, eh!? :eek:

BTW, lilulila, what's a "Linvoy"? Is that Irish for something?

lilulila

My friend came up with the name Linvoy the invincible as with a name like that its sure to be a car not to mess with lol

alias no.9

ibanez wrote:

All jap family cars are evil handling dogs.

I drive a Primera which is very boring to look at, hardly a performer but handles very well and would put many other cars to shame on that front even if it is a jap family car.

As for the MkIII Golf [comicbook guy] worst golf ever [/comicbook guy] failing to inspire in terms of styling, handling or performance(the 1.4 is 2 whole seconds slower 0-100kmh than a 1.3 Lada Samara :eek: ).

Lawdie

Saab 93 Turbo Diesel

Sounds great looks okay and everything else was .... (figure out yourselves what the four dots are!)

The turbo kept failing, in the four months I had it the turbo failed five times whilst down the country (e.g. Kerry) driving back to Dublin was like having a Daihatsu Charade 1.0 turbo diesel engine under the bonnet. This was one of a number of problems. Before anyone says it was just a bad assembly line car, I've known others with similar problems.

IT sounded like a twenty year old Massey Ferguson and drives like a combine, a real farmers delight.

I'd prefer the opel Kadett some one earlier mentioned!

unkel

You should have waited a bit longer before getting that Saab, Lawdie. Nowadays Opel fit excellent Alfa Romeo diesel engines to their cars

commited

ehhhh

I hated the 1.0 polo when I drove it. It was pretty horrible. Nearly fell asleep.

samo

I drove a 1.0l Polo fox 89 4 years ago, was my 1st car and was like driving a tank!

One particulary scary moment was when it decided it didnt want to exit the Walkinstown roundabout and only mine and gods will helped that car bunnyhop off the roundabout!

The other even scarier moment was when having given it to a friend of a friend of mine a year later (after changing to a 99 Honda civic - big difference) they had obviously decided they didnt want it and had sold/gave it to travellers who then nearly crashed into me a few weeks later.

Was a genuinley chilling moment, was like the car was stalking me and clanking ghostly engine parts!

Skank

ford feaista and a toyota yaris they do not handel well its wollows in corners and doesnt hold the rd also boothe have understeered on me more times then i care to remember ....

PauloMN

BTW, re. the econometer, you obviously didn't bother RTFM after you got in it

Reading the manuals of hire cars is not something I tend to do much (read ever) - I generally just want to get to where I'm going. Mind you, maybe I should - it may have helped alleviate the embarrassment of spending about 10 minutes in Hertz looking for the handbrake in the C240 I hired in Germany, and the further 10 minutes I spent in Texaco looking for the fuel filler cap release button...

Enygma

Suzuki Swift 1L
Not too bad as a run around in the city, it was a Jap import so it had all electrics, a/c etc. Bought it off the mother after someone wrote off my Fiesta, massive difference in power and handling. Way to small inside, really cheap interior, awful rattles and some really truly bizarre electrical problems that no one could figure out.

Was driving an Opel Astra for the last few weeks cause the Swift died on me. Braking distances could be measured in miles, strange bubbling sounds from the engine, very loud rattles too. Spoke to a guy that had the same car before said that he had the exact same problems, would never buy an Opel again. I dunno, maybe the new ones are better.

Quite happy with my 00 Mk IV, but I only got that last week so I would be

ZENER

Someone erlier mentioned that driving a Polo was akin to navigating in a tank . . almost . almost !! For the true authentic tank experience you need to drive a Volvo 340 with the renault engine. A few years ago some little scumbag dried to pinch my Integra XSi V-tec so while it was away getting fixed I had the mother-in-laws old 1980 Volvo Tank !!!

At the other end of the scale the award for Matress on 4 wheels and with absolutely ZERO pulling power - I mean that in every way imaginable by the way - goes to a purchase I made in a moment of weakness after trading in (co-inicidently) an '84 1.1 VW Polo Fox . . The Mazda 1.5 323 Familia Saloon !!! What a piece of absolute crap !!!!

ZEN

bbability

The worst car I ever drove was a Nissan Almera, sounds a bit weird but I had nothing but trouble with that car. Bought it from new, here's a few of the problems:
1. Radio would drop to zero volume when I hit the brakes....
2. Hand-Brake seized one morning when I was reversing out of the driveway
3. It cut-out on another occassion while driving at 70mph on the M1. I tried to start it but it just wouldn't start. Everyone was blowing their horns at me obvioulsy thinking I was pulled over for the fun of it as it was a new car....At that low point I decided to sell it and cut my losses..... It was defintely a Monday Morning Car!!!

Lawdie

unkel wrote:

You should have waited a bit longer before getting that Saab, Lawdie. Nowadays Opel fit excellent Alfa Romeo diesel engines to their cars

Was'nt a choice of mine it was a company car I inherited, still don't like the drive, ah I just hate the car

JohnBoy

magpie wrote:

In my experience every French car I have ever driven has been a piece of s hit with horible handling, terrible plasticy interior and unreliable to boot. This includes a Peugeot 504 belonging to my old man, the mother in Law's Renault Scenic, and my own first car a Peugeot 205.

In contrast I've never had any trouble with my Mark III golf, starts first time every time, 110K miles on the clock, very comfortable and nice interior (comfortline), economical, sturdy and well built.

Over to you Mr Clarkson

My favourite cars that I have driven in order of preference

2 peugeot 405s (diesel estates and all)
2 peugeot 406s
ford mondeo (97-01 and 01->)
BMW 525 (89-96)
Alfa 156
Ford Focus
citreon ax
BMW 320i (e30) had a welded diff which while fun in a field/car park was bloody scary on a wet day
Toyota avensis (first gen)
VW Passat (01->)
Renault laguna (01 ->)
renault megane coupe (97-01)
VW Polo (90-94)
Rover 214 (90-95 ish)
renault 19
VW vento
and then 8 million miles down the list
2 Fiat cinquecentos

Most of em have been french, never driven a golf, but I can't imagine it's much better than a vento

obj99

ando wrote:

Going down the m1 in a suzuki balero

Hi Ando,
Just wondering about the alloys on the picture on your signature. Wondering what type are they and did you get them in ireland?

ds20prefecture

Volvo 340 GL Diesel. Absolutely dreadful. The car in question had an apt stench of vomit in it, with an interior in "stomach lining red". Almost killed my brother when it left the road at about 70. What's really annoying is that he reckons "it saved his life" because he was in a Volvo. A triumph of marketing over injury. Had he been in something FWD he would never have had the accident.

Morris Metro 1.0L . Wouldn't pull a soldier off yer sister.

Chevy Blazer 4.3 V6. Awful. Awful. Awful.

Morris Marina 1.8 Automatic estate. In purple, of course.

Nissan (Datsun?) Bluebird. Insomniacs cure.

Mk II Ford Escort 1.1L. The L is for "lemming-like"


Shudder. What an evil thread.

Gerry

Worst car, I suppose it would have to be an opel corsa, the really old ones that always had a cloud of blue smoke coming out of them. I'd say you could recognize one of them by smell alone.
I hate the newer corsas as well, but I have to have a certain amount of grudging respect for the build quality, since I managed to jump it over a hump back bridge at about 60, and nothing broke

Capt'n Midnight

hawkmoon269 wrote:

A toss up between a late 80's Opel Corsa and a 1980 Opel Kadett. ... Interesting the number of people who have mentioned Opels in this thread, especially the Corsa.

Used to have a hydrophobic Corsa meself and you know the way some people carry water in case the radiator leaks ? I know someone who carried around a spare radiator for a Kadett..

But Fiat TIPO with dodgy electrics take some beating, dead fuel pump means car stops dead - game over. , cable frayed on electric windows, burnt out wiring on both head lamps (how I still can't figure) and dimmer. Central locking went, so popped the relay, soft steel wheels couldn't take Irish potholes, rear wipers rusted solid, hatchback door was made of plastic , engine mounting brakets wern't great either ...